Samoa scrapes into 2027 Rugby World Cup after tense draw with Belgium

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Samoa became the 24th and last team to qualify for the 2027 Rugby World Cup after a hard-fought 13-13 draw with Belgium on Tuesday.

Manu Samoa have played in every World Cup since their debut in 1991 but they embarrassingly struggled to reach what will effectively be a home tournament in Australia.

Rank outsider Belgium was bidding to qualify for the first time and had never been this far before. The Black Devils had to beat Samoa in their first matchup in 36 years. They overcame a yellow card to lead 6-3 at halftime and rallied to level the score with seven minutes to go but couldn't produce one more point to make history.

“It wasn't all pretty but we managed to get the ticket to the World Cup,” Samoa captain Theo McFarland said.

Samoa qualified at its third attempt in three months. Depleted squads in August and September couldn't win a match and opponents Tonga, the United States and Chile qualified.

For the final qualifying tournament, Samoa gathered its best players from Moana Pasifika, the French Top 14 and third division, the English Premiership, United Rugby Championship and Japanese second division. Nine starters against Belgium weren't available in August-September.

But they squandered try chances in the Belgium 22, where Samoa suffered from two forward passes and at least four knock-ons, one of them over the try-line in the first half.

Belgium survived on crumbs, Samoa ill-discipline and a terrific defense.

Samoa's bench rescued the hot favorite when replacement Abraham Papali'i crashed over between the posts in the 63rd minute for a try converted by one-time England international Jacob Umaga, who added a penalty for 13-6.

Then Belgium restored the tension when captain Jean-Maurice Decubber scored after a weaving run by Matias Remue, who converted to tie the score. But they couldn’t get another foothold in Samoa's half.

To set up the last shot in the final qualifying tournament, both teams beat Brazil and Namibia, ending Namibia's unbroken run of World Cup appearances since 1999.

Samoa and the other 23 World Cup teams will learn which of six pools they're in from the draw in Sydney on Dec. 23.

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AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby